Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 20:49:30 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: :Red-necked Phalarope in Caroline Co.; Eared Grebe @ Hurloc k MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, Hoping to get one of those Eared Grebes on my list before they disappeare d, I bolted out of school at 2:10 p.m. today (Friday, 22 Sep) to make it to Ridgely WWTP (Caroline Co.) before closing time at 4. Quick-moving traff ic helped me get there at 3:35, so I had a little time to gaze before the ga te closed. I searched every corner and studied every bird, but the Eared Gr ebe was nowhere visible. However, as consolation, a Red-necked Phalarope wa s swimming its little circle ballet in the right hand cell, along the far right edge about 2/3 of the way back. The bird was in basic winter pluma ge with dark cap, dark eye patch, thin dark stripe down back of neck, gray back, and "medium" length bill. A rundown of the birds at Ridgely: Am. Black Duck 2 Mallard 35 Green-winged Teal 3 N. Shoveler 9 Ruddy Duck 2 Killdeer 2 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Semipal. Sandpiper 3 Least Sandpiper 1 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 1 From Ridgely I proceded straight to Hurlock WWTP in Dorchester Co. Here, in the cell furthest from the gate (where most of the birds are usually found) was an Eared Grebe. The amount of dark below the eye, duskier neck, and thin bill identified it as an Eared, undoubtedly the on e earlier reported. The tally for Hurlock was as follows: Pied-billed Grebe 2 EARED GREBE 1 (State bird #299) Snow Goose 2 Canada Goose yes Mallard 18 N. Shoveler 100+ Ruddy Duck 30 Semipal. Sandpiper 12 Pectoral Sandpiper 3 Laughing Gull 2000 (the grass strip between two of the cells was a solid swath of gray and white) Barn Swallow 2 Savannah Sparrow 8 S'all Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@earthlink.net ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================